Chapter 215
Chapter 215
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 215
Chapter Title: Magic Duel (1)
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Andrew Patrick is one of our proud Magic Tower students!
Though he's F Class, he's a member of the Four Great Families, Patrick, with tremendous skill!
The announcer blabbered on about Andrew at length.
As if deliberately for the nobles of the Four Great Families to hear, laced with flattery.
In contrast.
- Yes, his opponent is Orzen...? Yes, the new professor from the Orzen family! How did it come to a professor dueling a student?
My introduction was astonishingly brief.
“Woooaaah!”
“Patrick! Patrick!”
“Andrew, fight! Just kill that evil professor!”
“No matter if he's a professor, he can't beat a student from the Four Great Families! Those guys are such elites!”
“Exactly! They’ve been eating elixirs since birth and building near-graduation level skills even before entering the tower, right?”
The crowd was the same.
Not cheering for the Four Great Families in the Magic Tower was the path to ruin.
The funny part was that everyone was 'genuinely' rooting for Patrick.
- Alright, it's about time to start! Ah, are both sides ready?
While strolling below and observing the crowd, I had moved to the left side of the stage.
“…….”
Without a word, I stepped onto the stage and looked ahead.
My opponent, Andrew Patrick, ascended from the right at the same time as me.
We faced off at a distance of about 50 meters.
Fwoosh!
I shook my hand, creating a staff.
‘Andrew Patrick.’
For the sin of dragging me up here like a monkey in a zoo.
And for tormenting Arin all this time.
Today, you'll pay for those sins sweetly.
- Alright, the rules are simple! Use only 'magic' in any way! The duel ends when the opponent shouts 'surrender' or becomes 'incapacitated'! But please refrain from killing your opponent!
The rules were ridiculous.
It's a game where lives are on the line.
Yet in a duel, you can't kill each other.
“Ridiculous bastards. So even if they lose, they won't die, is that it?”
An old man watching grumbled in disbelief.
“That slimy Andrew stepped up with confidence for a reason. There are safety measures in place.”
‘It doesn't matter.’
I grinned.
‘I wasn't planning to kill you easily anyway.’
From my experience in the world.
Death is the greatest comfort, the ultimate ease.
“Hey, greenhorn professor.”
Thud. Thud.
The snake-eyed Andrew slowly closed the distance.
“That courage is admirable. If it were me, I wouldn't have come up here—I'd have run. For you to crawl out anyway... well, you must be confident in your skills?”
At the same time.
Thud!
He slammed his staff into the ground, chanting a spell.
“…….”
From the flow of energy I sensed.
It was the basic magic 「Water Bomb」.
‘As expected of the water Patricks?’
He planned to lob suppressive shots with water.
Fine.
Shall I play along with magic?
In the past week.
Through Arin, I had learned about 11 basic magics in total.
Not the incantations themselves.
More accurately, after grasping the 'mana' flow, I substituted it with sorcery.
And with that alone.
Crunch! Cruuunch!
I could produce effects quite similar to magic.
- Ooh, impressive! The magic used to resist Andrew Patrick's Water Bomb is... ooh, surprising!
- It's Grow Stem! A slightly forgotten old-era basic magic, but! Among water attribute magics, it's reliably effective! Wood attributes are strong against water by nature!
- Haha, Orzen, was it? Didn't expect much from a rural noble, but looks like he's professor material even if he dies soon! Impressive!
Grow Stem.
Stems rapidly grow from the ground and lash forward like whips, a striking attack skill.
Cruuuunch!
Brown stems burst through the marble floor, shooting forward ferociously.
The startled Andrew hastily hurled his gathered Water Bomb.
Pang!
Before Grow Stem, it was just droplets.
Even better.
Plants absorb water and grow stronger.
“Hmph, so you have some magical skill?”
Andrew clicked his tongue, generating water on the ground.
“But that kind of magic? Just don't get hit.”
He stepped on the water and shot into the sky.
‘Similar to what Olena uses?’
I smirked and swung my staff again.
This time, the skill was Grow Hold.
A magic that links with Grow Stem, where the extending stems grasp and bind the target.
- Ooh! My goodness! Did the Grow Stem drink water or something? It's growing wildly! Andrew Patrick! He's in crisis!
- This duel, who knows how it'll turn out!
- One thing's for sure—the clashes from the start are on another level!
Crunch!
It was when the stems surged toward the sky.
“Looks like I can't just play around and scold you lightly.”
Andrew muttered through gritted teeth, swinging his staff.
Splash! Splaaash!
Seven spears made of water appeared in midair.
Sharp spears condensed with intense hydraulic pressure.
- My, my goodness, Water Spear!
The announcer excitedly followed suit.
- Water Spear is intermediate magic! It's the minimum graduation requirement for the Magic Tower—a very advanced spell!
- Ahh, as expected of the Patrick family, even in F Class? Insane! A student using intermediate magic! Seven of them at that! At this level, couldn't he graduate right now?
‘Intermediate magic, huh.’
It certainly looked powerful.
Yes.
If he's the type to bribe Professor Silvia.
He'd need to be at that level.
Andrew hurled the spears without hesitation.
Two toward the rising stems.
The remaining five straight at my heart.
“…….”
And.
The spears clearly carried killing intent.
The watching old man clicked his tongue.
“That bastard. He's ignoring the rules and planning to just kill you.”
‘Seems like it. Probably figures his backers will clean up any mess.’
I wasn't flustered at all.
When a villain does villainous things, that's hardly surprising.
Getting shocked by that would be the foolish part, no?
‘Well then.’
Let's see.
Screeeech!
Even as the Water Spears closed in, I didn't budge.
Truth be told, I could dodge just by stepping on shadows.
‘But that wouldn't be using only magic.’
Squeeze!
I pressed down hard on the staff touching the ground.
Then.
[The 'Sealed Spirit of the Seven Essences (4/7)' activates.]
[You obtain the essence of Wood.]
[The power of life strengthens.]
The divine slayer-grade item activated.
As the red energy in the staff faded and green energy rose.
Crunch! Cruuuunch!
The stems embedded in the ground began growing at speeds incomparable to before.
The thin stems thickened to the size of massive tree trunks.
And their number amplified madly.
- W-Wait?
- What magic is that?
- Th-The stems are growing incredibly fast! Ahh, the Water Spears are futilely blocked! What in the world is that?
And.
The following powerful stems whipped toward Andrew's ankle in midair.
At an astonishing speed unlike before.
“Hup!”
The startled Andrew tried to leap away.
Slither!
But the stem curved mid-path, precisely snagging his ankle.
Indeed, the fully enhanced Grow Hold.
- Wow!
- Th-That's amazing! What kind of combo attack is this?!
- It's like... magic researched solely to counter the Patrick family!
- Wood attribute, basic magic... ahh, can we even call this basic? It seems like one of the ancient magics...!
The announcer heated up.
He, who had been biased toward Patrick, was now immersed with an awestruck expression.
Beyond flattery.
As a mage himself, it was pure admiration.
Of course, the announcer wasn't the only one shocked.
“W-What? What's that?”
“That professor's pretty good?”
“Yeah. Better than expected.”
“What if Patrick ends up losing if this keeps up?”
Murmurs rippled.
Even the crowd, certain Andrew would win, now watched intently.
The battle's momentum had flipped in an instant.
Andrew dangled helplessly from the stem.
Fwoosh!
And in response, what I prepared was.
The basic magic, Fireball.
Flicker, fwoooosh!
Flames gathered in my open palm from midair.
“What.”
I curled my lip, gazing at Andrew's shaken eyes.
Then, loud enough for him to hear, I muttered.
“Spouting off with skills that crumble to mere basic magic, you brat?”
Andrew's eyes trembled violently.
* * *
At that moment.
Professor Silvia broke into a cold sweat.
She wanted to go watch the duel too, but having promised otherwise, she stayed in the lab.
“Uwaaaah! Let me go! I have to go! I need to!”
Because Eloise Arin's resistance was fiercer than expected.
“Child.”
Silvia coaxed carefully.
No matter how young, Arin was Eloise's daughter.
She couldn't treat a duke's heir roughly.
“Hoon said absolutely not to let you go. There's a reason he said that, right?”
No matter how she soothed.
It fell on deaf ears.
The usually docile girl shed tears profusely, kicking and screaming.
“If our professor dies, Silvia, will you take responsibility?”
What had driven this child to such extremes?
Professor Hoon.
Were you truly such an educator?
Silvia had handled Arin when she was in charge of F Class.
She had witnessed Andrew's direct bullying back then.
But she had yielded to power.
Cowed by Andrew's threats and overpowered in magic.
So all that remained for Arin was regret.
“......Get out of the way. I told you.”
Arin glared at Silvia.
But she stood firm.
She hadn't known Professor Hoon long, but his words carried weight.
There must be a clear reason he said not to let her go.
“I might hurt you if you don't move.”
Fwoooosh!
Surprisingly, flames gathered in Arin's palm right then.
‘How...?’
Silvia's eyes widened.
Eloise Arin was infamous.
For being abandoned by her family because she couldn't cast even basic magic.
What had happened for this girl to suddenly wield magic overnight!
‘Of course.’
The power was still weak.
So.
Sizzle!
A light water attribute spell could douse it with a splash.
“…….”
Honestly, it scared her.
If she started using magic, she'd be recognized as a proper Eloise.
‘Then I'd be the one in deep trouble...?’
She knew what happened if you crossed the Four Great Families in this world.
She'd experienced it, and was still experiencing it.
‘Should I.’
Just let her go?
Or go together?
“…….”
Silvia grew increasingly confused about what was right.